US Doctor Highlights The Need Of Aggressive Steps Against The “Epidemic Proportions” Of E-Cigarette Use

E-cigarettes have been taking the place of traditional smoking, but this is not necessarily a good thing, despite all the advertisement.

The US Surgeon General has just called for aggressive action against e-cigarette use.

He said that the use of electronic cigarettes has exploded to what he called “epidemic proportions” among the youth and it puts their health and brain development at really high risks.

New generations are exposed to nicotine

“We must take aggressive steps to protect our children from these highly potent products that risk exposing a new generation of young people to nicotine,” the top US doctor, Jerome Adams, said in a rare public advisory.

“E-cigarette aerosol is not harmless,” he said, noting that “nicotine exposure during adolescence can harm the developing brain – which continues to develop until about age 25”.

The surgeon general took the post 16 months ago, and this is his second public warning regarding health.

Back in April, he also called for more people to carry the overdose antidote naloxone because the nation has been struggling with a record number of opioid overdoses.

It seems that during the past year, e-cigarette use increased 78% among high school students. In all, more than 3.6 million US youth, including one in 20 middle school students, currently use e-cigarettes.

Dangers of e-cigarettes

The surgeon general also told parents, educators, and doctors that there’s a high need for a series of steps including the following: banning indoor vaping and talking to kids about the dangers of e-cigarettes, mentioning by name the USB drive-shaped products made by Juul.

Dangers of e-cigarettes include harm to learning, memory, and attention, and putting kids at risk of future addiction.

“In addition to nicotine, the aerosol that users inhale and exhale from e-cigarettes can potentially expose both themselves and bystanders to other harmful substances, including heavy metals, volatile organic compounds, and ultrafine particles that can be inhaled deeply into the lungs,” said the advisory.

I have been blogging and posting articles for over eight years, but my passion for writing dates back in 2000. I am especially enthusiastic about technology, science, and health-related issues. When I’m not researching and writing the latest news, I’m either watching sci-fi and horror movies or checking out places worth visiting and building deep memories for later in life. I believe in empathy and continually improving myself.